1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of dog training, and more particularly to a mobile telephone dog training tool and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Kali Bianchi recently completed an upland game bird grand slam. Kali is a French Brittany, L'Epagneul Breton. Her story is captured in “It's all about the Dog,” published in the Publication of the Club de l'Epagneul Breton of the United States, Second Semester 2012, Issue 35. Kali never had formal training to speak of Kali, like most successful gun dogs, had good genetic cloth woven into a hardy hunting companion by her love of her master.
Although Kali lacks formal training credentials, she did learn some basic skills the hard way at the old-fashioned South Texas school of hard knocks. She learned to listen when told to come or she would get chased down. She learned to avoid rattlesnakes after getting whacked on the nose by a de-fanged rattler. She learned that skunks stink and that dogs that smell like skunk do not get love. She learned that when the boots and gun came out, she better pick up and go because good things usually happen. Kali learned where birds hide with time and freedom on her hunts to investigate promising cover. When the cover was taller than her short stature, a bell around her neck and swishing weeds generally indicated her whereabouts. During the excitement of a hunt, the absence of noise meant a point and Kali had learned to find her quarry.
Kali grew up on a South Texas ranch with lots of room to roam and learn about the outdoors. Many gun dog pups do not share Kali's good fortune. City dogs that do not get to experience the outdoors as Kali did often have difficulty adapting to hunting unless they receive some sort of formal training. Professional kennel trainers who train many dogs simply do not have time for old-fashioned, hands-off training like that Kali received. If, for example, a professional kennel trainer had to chase down every pup that failed to come when called, not much training would get done. Instead, professionals typically use training tools that help teach dogs what to do and what not to do.
One prominent dog training tool is the shock collar, which applies an electric shock to a dog's skin in response to a remote activation at a radio controller held by a trainer. After a dog learns the meaning of a command, like “come,” application of a shock helps to ensure compliance when the dog hesitates or chooses not to listen. Some shock collars include or work with Global Position Satellite (GPS) receivers that aid a trainer in the field by letting the trainer track the dog's position on a display included with the radio controller. Examples of such systems include the GARMIN ASTRO and ALPHA systems. Some pet recovery systems use GPS to track lost dogs and report the position of the dog to an owner through a website or smartphone application, such as the SPOTLIGHT pet recovery system available from the American Kennel Club. After a dog learns verbal commands, advanced training usually involves the use of whistles to send commands over long distances. A good trainer who uses training tools in an appropriate manner can have a dog with smart genes trained to hunt in a month or two.
One difficulty with training dogs using shock collars is that dogs become “collar smart.” If a dog figures out that he only gets shocked when a collar is on, he soon learns not to behave absent the collar. Worse, if the dog learns that the trainer has a shock collar but the master does not, the dog might decide to hear the trainer but not the master—who, incidentally, pays the trainer and buys the dog food. Most city dwellers burn years of kitchen passes when they buy an expensive hunting dog. If that dog won't hunt, the poor fellow has to do a load of dishes to pay for an expensive training collar. Ironically, once he gets the collar and puts it on the dog, he will probably not have to use it more than a couple of times to teach the dog to listen.
Simple old-fashioned training worked with Kali, but that bell around her neck has made her hard of hearing in her old age; as a result, the whistle too often goes unheard. New-fangled training tools work and help to make hunting more pleasurable for both the dog and his master. A hunter should not have to spend a lifetime of kitchen passes to have training tools—bells and whistles included—that work at home, work simply, and work well.